Brief:
The Launch Pad make a wide range of scale mid-power model kits of missiles. They usually fly on one or more 24mm motors. They fly best on AP motors in the E - F range, but can usually be flown with moderate success on BP D power. I was attracted to this kit because it's a cool looking British prototype, and relatively cheap. The skill level is '4', but there is no indication as to what this means.

The kit contains the following parts:

• 24mm motor mount
• Motor clip
• 3 centering discs
• Plastic nose cone
• Nose weight
• 2 2.6" body tubes
• 2 couplers
• 2 3/32" balsa sheets
• 8 1/4" x 1/8" balsa strips
• 8 cocktail sticks
• Paper fin templates
• Paper aerial covers
• Paper nose cone extension
• Paper shock cord mount
• 18" octagonal mylar chute
• 8 Shroud line anchors
• Shroud lines
• Slip swivel
• Barrel swivel

Construction/Finishing Techiniques:
What you get is fairly similar to a large Estes kit. It compares well with the Estes Phoenix, though if you decide to use the nose cone extension, the Rapier requires more attention to finishing. The quality of instructions is perhaps not quite as good as a similar sized Estes kit, but are still adequate. There are no decals, but additions such as the swivels make up for this.

The motor mount and is very similar to an Estes mount, and goes together very easily. Two of the centering rings are glued over the motor mount. I used yellow wood glue throughout construction. This makes for joints stronger than the cardboard and balsa and I find it easier to use than white PVA.

The paper nose cone extensions which feature in many of Launch Pad kits are infamous and have started many a thread on rec.models.rockets. Some say they are easy to put together, others despise them. Personally, I'm not much bothered. The kit will still produce a flyable model with or without the extension. Although I did try to make the extension following the instructions carefully, I failed miserably. I replicated the template and tried again with no more success. The problem for me is to make a sharp tip. It's just too hard to form it without creasing the paper. I didn't give up though. I tried again using an alternative technique. Instead of using just the amount of paper needed to form the cone, I started with a much bigger sheet of paper. I found that this could be formed into a large cone, the tip of which matched the cone required. This could be done without ever touching the tip, meaning there was a good sharp tip, and no creases. I applied glue after forming and held it until it set. Once the glue had dried I cut the tip from the large cone. It took me a couple of attempts to get the angle right, but this was because on the first attempt I neglected to measure it! The finished cone was glued to the plastic nose. The instructions say to coat the paper extension with CA, but I decided I was going to coat the entire model in finishing epoxy, so I omitted this step. Instead I gave it a couple of coats of sanding sealer to add little strength and to stop it soaking in too much epoxy.

The body tubes are good quality. The two lengths are connected together with the coupler. The motor mount is glued approximately 2" inside the lower of the two body tubes. The remaining coupler is used to position the motor mount, and also to strengthen the end of the body tube. The third centering ring is glued 6" inside the top of the body such that it prevents the chute from slipping backwards at launch.

The fins must be cut from the balsa sheet provided. There are no markings on the balsa sheet, and templates for both sets of fins are provided. It would be easy for the novice to run-out of balsa due to bad lay out. Two slots must be made in the four forward fins to mount the aerials. The aerials are simply made by trimming the cocktail sticks to length. The balsa strips are for the fin mounts. These must be cut to length, and then 3/32" slots cut out to mount the fins. This isn't easy as the parallel cuts required are very close together. A good metal straight edge to control the knife is a must. I gave the fins two coats of sanding sealer with a light sand between coats.

To finish the rocket I tried a new (for me) technique. I painted the entire surface with finishing epoxy (zpoxy brand). This is a little different to normal epoxy in that it's much runnier, and almost completely odorless. It went on OK, apart from a couple of areas that seemed to suffer from the 'surface tension' effect you see when you dab water on a water proof surface. I've since discovered that this can be prevented by lightly sanding the areas before application. Once dry a light sand overall was all that was required before the primer could be applied. A single coat of primer and a single final coat were all that were required. The instructions are pretty vague when it comes to paint schemes, with just a single illustration and no decals. I searched the web and found schemes for the British Army (olive) and Saudi Army (sand), but instead went with overall orange that seemed to be indicated by the package illustration.

* SPECIAL NOTE off of RMR from Chuck Barndt, President of The Launch Pad